Death of a Tansy...

Not to be confused with Death of a Salesman. This is an equally epic tale of four courageous volunteers taking on an impossible foe! This is not a made for TV movie, instead it is today’s Trillium success. Our volunteers braved the sunny weather and attacked the invasive species in Trillium. With great results! Below you will see a before and after shot of one of our many tansy patches!



Before



  

After



As I mentioned in my previous post, tansy is poisonous, so not a great thing for our horses visiting the property to be munching on. Huge thanks to Paul, Grant, Rob and Bob for spending the morning with me out in the woods to make it a safer place for all!

Summer rain and Work Party!

Trillium enjoyed a nice summer sprinkling yesterday. Good for all of our vegetation. Today is an in-office day for this girl, I will look longingly out the window...But the management plan writing is going great. Also as a breaking news flash...look forward to hear what our plan is for the 2011 hunting season, which will be posted soon!

Tomorrow morning from 9-12 is our monthly Trillium work party! Join us out on the land for some super invasive removal!

"Hoo" is at Trillium?

Early morning visit to Trillium to check on trail conditions leads to a traveling companion...

Barred owl perched on a branch along the main trail.

One of our resident barred owls decided to follow my explorations. On two seperate occasions this morning I spotted movement in the trees, so I pull out the camera and snap some shots. Since I'm used to shooting trees and trails these days a moving target was quite the challenge, but I did manage to get a couple of worthwhile pics. Beautiful bird, you'll most likely see one flying away from the noise, but if you're lucky you'll get to see one perched and observing you. I wonder what he's thinking?




Another (or was I followed by the same?) barred owl in an alder stand.

 Trillium is home to an abundance of wildlife. These owls are just one example of one of the many species that now have a safe place thanks to the efforts by the community to protect this property. Way to go!!

The Good, The Bad, and The Yummy

I was out at Trillium over the weekend for my run and it was glorious. I had the trails all to myself in the morning. Here is a brief report of my observations (and the very grainy pictures taken from my cell phone)...

The Good...

Our wetlands are looking very nice indeed. No more standing water, but our wetland plants are still as lush as ever!

The Bad.....<insert scary sound effect>

Tansy has crept its way into the property. You might think it is pretty with its yellow flowers and dainty leaves, but don't let it fool you! It is a Class B invasive plant in Washington State and is toxic if ingested by livestock. So next time you are on the trail and you see these plants, pull to your hearts content. They are easy to remove by hand and you will have my eternal gratitude!

"Pull us...we're bad for nature!"

The Yummy...

The berries are out at Trillium! I spotted salmonberry, thimbleberry, black cap, and creeping blackberry on my run. All native and all delicious! But remember we are sharing with the wildlife, so only take a couple. Sharing is caring!

Got Trails?

I love to hike. Simple statement, but so true. Which makes helping with the trail system analysis for Trillium that much more exciting for me. Today was filled with slope analysis, trail ratings, and potential trail connection and upgrade projects. Next time you are out in the woods, shoot me an email about your favorite trail. This pic was taken just north of intersection G, beautiful!

Planning is all about the little things...

No field visits for me today. It is all about the paperwork. The focus for today? Continuing work on the trail analysis, ADA options analysis, and revising our timeline. Lots of things to look forward to! Then onto issue papers for vegetation management, hydrology, interpretive opportunities, special use requests, and much much more. We will leave no stone unturned in our planning process!

I've included one of the photos from yesterday's trip to the woods. Can you believe how lush the forest is looking? So many shades of brilliant green, crayola would be so jealous!

Trails anyone?

The best part of my job? Getting to spend the morning out in nature! Two hours inventorying trail conditions for our trail analysis. A girl and her GPS, what more can you want! Took lots of photos and as an added bonus I saw 5 deer, 2 owls, 3 hawks and a partridge in a pear tree! Okay, the last one was a bit of a stretch, but I did see all of the others and heard a plethora of other birds. Now back in the office to map out the problem areas and start analyzing the data.

The journey continues...

You know you are in the 21st century when a Forest has its own blog. I plan on making these posts as entertaining and painless as possible. You'll get first hand knowledge of what is going on in the planning and management process.

Have you journeyed to our forest today? If you have a fun story about the Trillium Community Forest send it to me at jessica@wclt.org and I will post it online. We love to hear about adventures into the forest. I will try to post as many as I can, so keep an eye out.